Pitching Metrics – Pitcher Dominance Rating

As fantasy baseball players, we always look for the next thing. Everyone knows about pitching ERA, and WHIP, and wins, strikeouts and even quality starts for those in custom leagues.

Some advanced players even know a lot about BABIP (batting average per balls in play), ground ball rate, fly ball rate, line drive rate, xFIP and many other pitching sabermetrics that can help us make informed decisions.

Introducing Pitcher Dominance Rating, or PDR is a ProjectRoto exclusive. What this shows you is how well is a pitcher really pitching. It takes into account all kinds of numbers, some that we can, but some that we cannot share with you, yet the outcome shows some interesting facts. Add this number to your research when preparing for daily fantasy, seasonal fantasy, and even dynasty fantasy leagues.

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As you can see, Johnny Cueto is light years ahead of the rest of the pack, and there are some names that you would not expect. One is Marco Estrada. Estrada’s PDR is second in baseball with a .257, but he has allowed a league-leading 20 home runs, so beware of that. Why is he so high in this metric? Estrada is very good at getting outs, which is what the goal for a pitcher is. The issue is, when he allows base runners, it comes via the long-ball, which has inflated his earned run average to over four this season. If he cuts down his home runs allowed, he is one of the better pitchers in the game, but that is a big if. Another name that sticks out is Tanner Roark, who has the same line drive rate as Johnny Cueto (15.4), the same ground ball percentage as Masahiro Tanaka (47 percent) and a BABIP of .261, which ranks 18th in baseball. His dominant rating is a .225, which is better than David Price, Zack Greinke, Felix Hernandez, and Adam Wainwright. Stay tuned for an updated chart each and every week, exclusively on ProjectRoto.